My anxious mind, the battle is real.

Some insight in to the mind of an anxious mind

I realise I spend a lot of time talking about my experiences
of having anxiety, my recovery attempts and my setbacks. But they are mainly
just headlines, it’s difficult to give real insight in to what those headlines
actually mean.

So, in line with the blog name, I am publishing my actual
ramblings to give some insight in to what living with anxiety really means to
me. This is hand on heart genuinely what was going through my mind in the 30
minutes that the repair man was at my house. I am choosing to view it in a humorous
way as it does seem utterly ridiculous, but it could easily be seen as totally
crazy. But this is truly what my mind does in seemingly normal situations.
Enjoy…

First some context: Imagine the scene, it a Friday morning and I have a fridge repair man in my house. It was a planned visit in terms of knowing he was coming today but no idea what time that would be. When he arrives, I am in the middle of cooking soup, straightening up the house and listening to a “90’s acoustic” playlist on spotify.

Anxious mind: oh god I should have cleaned the fridge out (as the guy hands me a fridge shelf with a dirty mark on it). That’s it, he’s going to think I am some kind of rancid undomesticated useless waste of space. Why didn’t I clean the fridge? I’m an idiot.

Rational mind: you are being ridiculous, it was one dirty mark and I doubt he even noticed. He will have seen far worse. Besides the rest of the house seems clean and tidy as long as he doesn’t look too close 😛

Anxious mind makes this better by cleaning the shelf in front of him, to prove that I do know how to do it!!

Anxious mind: (as the guy takes stuff off the top of the fridge) sh*t sh*t sh*t I definitely haven’t cleaned up there and now he is going to know we make dust and put me forward for how clean is your house (that’s not even still going but I do remember very vividly how disgusting some houses were). He wont understand why there is a cushion up there (it’s the cats bed – she sleeps up there to keep safe from the dog)!! He’ll think I am completely weird. And why did I decide to cook lentils now!! he probably thinks it stinks, he will think I stink!!

Rational mind: everyone has stuff stashed away in places and everyone probably has dust on the top of their fridge and he probably is wondering why you have a cushion up there but I doubt he’s that bothered. As for the lentils, it smells fine. It smells like vegetables cooking and he can see the saucepan and knows its not you.

Anxious mind: Oh no why did I think it was a good idea to leave the music on, he probably thinks I am complete dork!! I want to turn it off, but I cant turn it off without it being obvious what I’m doing. What is this song? Oh god oh god? I am going to skip, wait I can’t do that because then he will know I am actually listening to it, I am going to skip, no don’t, I am I am (skips the song) WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? He must think I am such an idiot. I wonder what music he likes? Do you think he has even heard the music? He might like the music! ARGH!!!

Photo courtesy of cynthiaeday.com

Rational mind: he probably hasn’t even noticed the music, it probably isn’t bothering him and you are unlikely to ever see him again so stop panicking!!

THE PHONE RINGS AND INTERRUPTS THE MUSIC

Anxious mind: phew

Rational mind: phew

ANSWERS PHONE

Anxious mind: Oh no, now he can hear my conversation. What if he thinks I just sit around all day doing nothing but talking on the phone and obviously not cleaning. I haven’t been at work any of the times he has seen me, he must think I am really lazy. He’s probably thinking all sorts about me now!! What must he be thinking?!?! I need this to be over!! I am going crazy!

Rational mind: you are being crazy!! Of course, you haven’t been at work when he has come otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to come!! He is unlikely to have even noticed anything about the house, he is literally just here to fix the fridge. He is not from social services, he is not filming a secret documentary about slovenly mothers. He is here to fix the fridge!!! You are being crazy!

THE GUY FINISHES THE FRIDGE AND LEAVES

Anxious mind: Thank god that’s over

Rational mind: Thank god that’s over

So, there you go, a small snippet of the crazy that is my
mind. Looking at it on the page now, I can easily see why I end up exhausted
after a situation like that and why I have to be more careful now about how
much I try to cram in to my life. Those occurrences are more frequent than I would
like to admit to and can happen at any time in any place. I am lucky in that more
often than not I have the rational mind running alongside the anxious mind to
counter its thought patterns. But when I am struggling it is because the
rational mind is not there or it can not break through. It is at that point
that the panic gets its power and literally attacks. The panic then feeds the
anxious mind whilst suppressing the rational mind. The fight to rebalance then
becomes that much tougher.

Photo courtesy of pinterest

Anxiety is a constant battle that we are fighting. The battle
to keep the panic away and balance the anxious with the rational. I haven’t yet
mastered how to fuel the rational to suppress the anxious. But I am always working
towards it.

So anyway, that was an insight to my mind. A light hearted but definitely honest account of my battle. And on the plus side I think I can legitimately maintain my title – ramblings of an anxious mumma!